Overhead track.



H. L. FERRIS.

OVERHEAD TRACK.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, ms.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

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HENRY L. FERRIS, 0F HARVARD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 HUNT-I-IELM-FERRIS8:

COMPANY, OF HARVARD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

OVERHEAD TRACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1918.

Application filed March 23, 1918. Serial No. 224,153.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY L. Fnmns, a citizen of the United States,residing at Harvard, in the county of McI-Ienry and State of Illinois,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Overhead Tracks, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in overheadtracks and is fully described and explained in the specification andshown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my improved device; Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 8 of Fig. 2; andFig. 4 is a section on the line f of fieferring to the drawings:

5 is a rigid track carried by bracket 6 from the frame-work of abuilding. 7 is a coupling member carried by a heavy bracket 8. Thiscoupling member is engaged at one end by the rigid track and from itextends at the opposite end, the flexible track 9 of round rod. For thepurposes of the present invention, the flexible member may be eitherfastened in or passed through the coupling member 7 in any desiredmanner, the support here shown being the offset lateral support of mypatent on overhead track No. 1,003,097 dated September 12, 1911.

In the use of combined flexible and rigid tracks of the form shown insaid patent, or of other analogous forms, it has been found in practicethat the sudden drop of a heavily loaded litter-carrier to the yieldingflexible track has a tendency to bend the flexible track quite sharplyat, or adjacent to, the point where it enters the coupling member. Thissudden repeated and powerful bending action in some cases crystallizesthe flexible track, the speed of crystallization depending upon thequality of steel employed in the flexible track. The tendency tocrystallize has always been present to such an extent that by far thegreater number of breaks in the track occur approximately at the pointdescribed, and recently the condition of the steel industry has producedsuch changes in the steel commonly employed in the manufacture of roundrods, as to make breakages much more frequent. The structure hereinshown, however, greatly reduces the difliculty and makes the track muchmore durable.

In my improvement, the outer end of the coupling member hasdownwardly-turned cars 10 and immediately in front of it is a hingedmember 11 provided ,with similar ears 12, both sets of ears beingpivoted to a supporting bar 13. The hinged member 11 is of channel form,the flexible track running through it, and at its outer or forward endare ears 14:, between which is carried a filler-block 15 by which theflexible track is held in place.

By this arrangement, the flexibletrack is given two separate points atwhich it may bend, and the amount of bend in each place is thusdistinctly decreased. l/Vhen the wheel of a carrier runs over thecoupling member on to the hinged member, there is a relatively smallbend, and this-of a controlled character over the supporting bar 13; andwhen the wheel runs off the hinged member on to the flexible trackproper, there is no such tendency as before existed, sharply to bend thetrack and crystallize it.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of thisconstruction without departing from the spirit of my invention;therefore I do not intend to limit myself to the specific form hereinshown and described except as pointed out in the following claims, inwhich it is my intention to claim all the novelty inherent in theconstruction as broadly as is permitted by the state of the art. 1

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Incombination, a rigid track, a flexible track, a coupling memberinterposed between the rigid track and flexible track and into which theflexible track enters, and an intermediate hinged member pivotallysecured to the coupling member and overlying the adjacent portion of theflexible track whereby to distribute the bend of the flexible track to Ftrack entering into the coupling member, an

intermediate hinged member overlying the adjacent part of the flexibletrack, and a supporting member underlying the junction point of thecoupling member and intermediate hinged member and pivoted to both 10said members and underlying the flexible track whereby upon theapplication of loads to the flexible track, to distribute the bendthereof.

HENRY L. F ER-RIS.

Copies of this! patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

